Do you believe that some owners mistreat their dolls?

Indeed. I admit, I wince a bit whenever I see the gallery posts of the dolls-in-pond, but not in a "what an abusive owner" way... rather it's in a "wow, she's much braver than I am!" way.

My philosophy with BJD's is my philosophy with pretty much everything in life. As long as it doesn't harm someone else, directly or indirectly, do whatever you like.

 

I think it's important to remember when all said and done that dolls, no matter how beloved they are, are just resin.
Resin that someone has bought and owns and is therefore entitled to do what they choose to do with.
The doll feels no pain and as long as the owner isn't swinging it at people's heads, no pain is being caused to anyone else.

That being said, I do have sentimental attachments to my dolls and I'm scared of them getting damaged out of both love for them and acknowledgment of their value. But I admire people who are more daring with their dolls, such as those who pose them in water etc.
I am also very much in awe of those who take their dolls everywhere and play with them like toys. This is not mistreatment, just having fun with a doll. If the dolls take a few scrapes or loses a finger, that's the consequence but I just think it shows that they are well loved and played with, something I personally prefer to see than a doll in a glass cabinet.

Basically, no, there is no such thing as dollie mistreatment. Irresponsability perhaps but then whoever owns the doll has every right to whatever they wish with it.

 

To say nothing of the dollies that are boiled in RIT dye baths to change their color. Or have their features cut and modded with X-Actos and Dremel tools.

Really, it's hard for me to take the "dolls must feel pain" post seriously on the level of intelligent debate.

 

This isn't so much a question of "mistreating the doll" as it is that when you pick up a heavy doll by a small appendage like a hand, or twirl it by the hand, there's a possibility of breakage. But, if you don't mind the risk that you'll have to replace broken parts, it's your doll and I have no problem with it.

 

True, but, the body that Judas has I dont even own, and the owner of the body knows I did it beacuse she watched me do it and even laughed a bit at it

 

I treat mine like I would any other possession, with care.

I have a friend (who I don't see anymore) who doesn't treat their possessions with as much care. I would feel uncomfortable if they were to want to hold one of my dolls.

I was at his house once and there was a cd lying upside down on the floor, I felt like picking it up so that it wouldn't get scratched but I didn't feel I should be moving his stuff around how I liked. Then he picked up his guitar stand holding his guitar and placed it out of the way ... directly on top of the cd on the floor.

I let him borrow my digicam and he brought it back to me absolutely covered in scratches and scrapes on every corner and surface. He didn't say a word until I said WTF happened to this?! He said he thought it was like that when I gave it to him. I was fuming. He said he placed it on the concrete to film a clip and when he walked away from it some guy kicked it over and it rolled down the hill.

He also misjudged the weight of my Digital SLR. Basically he plonked it roughly down onto the table and chipped off the plastic thread around the outside of the lens.

Some people are just taught to take better care of things.

 

I guess as long as the owner of the body is ok with it, that's fine. But, you'd have to run a pretty long way to escape me and my cricket bat if you did it to one of my dolls though

Atomic, your friend wouldn't be allowed to touch any of my things. I would let careful friends borrow my things and handle my dolls, but I would never let someone who wasn't so careful do it. I think that if you let someone you know isn't careful borrow your things it's your own risk if they come back broken or scratched because you already knew what this person was like.

 

My 2 cents worth.

Abusing and mistreating of dolls seem kind of...erm...extreme. It's hard to abuse and mistreat them. It's VERY easy to be careless and neglect necessary and proper care for them though.

For myself, I play with my doll a lot. I ever rolled onto him in my sleep and get poked awake to shift him back into his sitting position...countless times actually. Once I awoke to find myself sleeping on his legs. I don't always wash my hands before handling him(he's covered in MSC due to body blushing and face-up) nor do I wear gloves when handling his naked resin. But I do keep him out of strong sunlight, take photos without flash and avoid touching him with oily hands. I at least take necessary precautions to avoid harming him or making him yellow faster.

I have a friend who owns 6 dolls and 1 of them is bought second-hand from a very careless owner. That doll, a Dream of Doll collection Black Luke(I remember his mould due to my mum's infatuation with him) was in almost a very bad shape. My friend bought over the doll from the girl after much bargaining and persuasion. His left ear was broken in half and his right almost gone. His nose was chipped and the right side of his neck had a very deep scratch/cut. His right arm had a crack that was discovered much later and his left hand had glued back ring and pinky finger. From what I head from this friend of mine, the girl handled Luke rather roughly. And when my friend brought him back with her to Singapore, and called me to see what I can do with the face-up and body blush, we discovered he was greening at his torso after removing his clothes. She didn't check him properly other than his face. So my friend did the sanding and modifications. We made him into a man who had battle wounds.

So this girl is very careless and reckless with her doll. And an expensive and limited one too. My mum was rather upset when we showed her the before and after photos of the poor boy.

The second story is of another girl whom I personally know. She owns 2 dolls and both are already well on their way to being totally yellow. Both are also limited editions from Dream of Doll. One is almost totally yellow as he was left in just his underwear and in direct and strong sunlight by the window while another was already yellow in his hands, neck, face and feet.

Although both are not chipped or scratched, they were yellow already. But she doesn't care. I did remind her again and again that her babies are yellow and asked her to take away from the window and maybe try the warm alcohol or sanding method to take away the yellow stains. Her reply was rather shocking to me. "They've been yellow for quite awhile already and what difference would it make if I keep them in the shade? Since they're already yellow might as well just leave them be." From then on I never inform her that I have a doll nor did I go to her house to help her clean her babies anymore.

There are people who are negligent to their dolls as they've lost interest in them already. And on both cases, the dolls were bought by their parents, not their own hard-earned money and both girls were only 15 and 13 respectively. So they had lost interest in their dolls and treated them as such. That is what I believe.

 

Wait, THE black Luke? There's only one, right? How horrible! I'd love to see what he looks like with his battle wounds, though.

 

I just died a little inside when I read that post.

 

Oh gods that just made me plain sick! How dare they treat them like that!?

Thats just plain abuse! Poor Black Luke! I hope he turned out fine in his new home.. With some loving care and modding he would probably look like new. He really deserved a new chance.

... And letting the dolls yellow because she lost interest?? Then she should have sold them instead! Money back, and the dolls would have been in a better place, and loved..

 

Really, they're just dolls & once you spend your money on them, they're yours to treat how you will. While they are expensive objects some folks don't a problem with money & may tend to be more careless than others who have to scrimp & save to acquire them.

But what would "dolly abuse" be anyway? Even though the money for them doesn't come easily for me, I don't treat them with kid gloves. I play with them, have some displayed in chairs on the floor where the cats can, and do, lay on them, sometimes leave them laying around nekkid when changing a group into different clothes, carry a passle of them in my arms when I'm setting up a group shot, etc. Is this "abuse" or just normal use?

I'm careful not to drop them or generally let them get dirty but I suppose some folks wouldn't consider my actions to be respectful enough. Still, they aren't living beings. It's not like abusing an animal or child. Dolls are inanimate objects & no matter how much we may cherish them & imbue them characters, they can't actually feel pain or be psychologically damaged by less than pristine care. And yes, some of my dolls have yellowed a bit over the years even though I don't display them in direct sunlight, neither are they kept in the dark. I like them to be around where I can see them & appreciate them on a daily basis.

 

Abuse is a strong word. "Mistreat" is better.

As much as it pains some people to watch others not take care of their things, it is not our place to step in and say "now hold on there", because it is the way they want to do things. You can lead a horse to water...

 

I don't think that dolls can really be abused because they are objects, but anyone can mistreat their belongings. If the object in question were not a ball-jointed doll, but a priceless, irreplaceable work of great art--it would still be mistreatment, not abuse. The owner can do whatever it is they would like with that item if it is fully theirs. (Even if it bothers other people who would rather own that item.)

It can be cringe-worthy to watch someone negligently toss aside an item that you know is expensive and that you believe you would cherish more, but there aren't any irrefutable justifications to intervene. I have seen some people do things with their dolls (or other items) that make me uneasy, but it would be overwhelmingly paternalistic to rush in and tell them to how to treat their own belongings. Most people wouldn't want someone else to tell them how to act in regards to their possessions, after all.

It makes me feel a bit sympathetic for the doll in question, even though it's on

 

I think "abuse" is the wrong word. I see it more like "wasteful".

Let's say I get some plastic trinket from a toy vending machine. Then I run over the trinket with my car. It's wasteful, but it was only a 10 cent piece of plastic. Not a terribly big deal, right?

Now I decided to run my doll over with my car. It's essentially the same thing, just a bigger piece of plastic. But you're wasting all the love and attention both you and the company put into that doll. The hours upon hours of sculpting, painting, fixing, customizing, loving and money just got smashed.

However, I would never tell you not to do things with your stuff. I might think you're insane for running over your doll or painting it with Sharpies. But I'll defend your right to do so.

 

I think that when you care about your own dolls and take special care to avoid what is common knowledge of the do's and don'ts, then it's cringe worthy when you see someone doing things that end up with yellowing and broken pieces. To some people it's not about the cost of the doll, but the sentimental value. I once had someone bang Takaya's head off my dash board and when I got upset, I was told to relax, that the resin is really strong. I've seen my own dolls fall over when taken photos, made sure they were okay and then tried again. I know that in some cases, the resin can withstand a certain amount of accidents, but having someone else "mistreat" my dolls and then shrug it off is another thing. Some people save and save to own one of these beautiful creations, so I think that is what sometimes makes it hard to see other people do things that cause damage. In the end though it really is up to the person who owns the doll to treat them as they want. We might not like it, but as long as they treat other peoples things or dolls with respect then it really isn't for us to say what is "abuse" or "neglect".

 

I agree with those that say willful damage to a BJD is wasteful. I think that if you spent all that time saving for a doll and waiting for it to arrive, damaging it on purpose just rings 'wrong' to me. Yellowing is a natural photoreaction resin has, when I see a yellowed doll it doesn't scream 'abuse' to me, I just think it is well-played with. Likewise, when I see a doll with a well modded scar gouged into their face, I appreciate the skill of the modder, I don't think that doll has been abused. However, snapping a doll's ears off, dragging it along the ground, misplacing parts, snapping off hands...I think this is mistreatment in the extreme and I hope against hope that none of these destructive people have children or pets.

That is very hurtful Scarecrowe, I'm sorry someone did that to your doll. I know resin is strong, my dolls have fallen down many times while I've been trying to pose them...but whenever they've fallen, my heart has been in my mouth. It's a respect thing. I respect other people's possessions, I think it's only fair they do the same. I shouted at my boyfriend when he removed all my dolls' wigs and left them in a pile all tangled together, and when he left my puki underneath a top where I could have sat on her. It's one thing to be careless with your own things, but you should be respectful of someone else's.

 

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(Bah, can't get my feelings straight on this one! Please delete!)

 

Poor Black Luke!

My friend is the second owner of the Collection Black Ducan (the OOAK from the previous year), and he actually tried for Black Luke's auction too, but didn't win. Now I really wish he'd won! He spoils that Black Ducan with the pampered kid-glove treatment, so it's still in beautiful shape... and to think, Luke could've had the same home...

It does get devilish hard to maintain the 'your doll, your business' credo, when you hear somebody doing that to a OOAK. It might not hurt the doll, but it does hurt collectors who have to hear about it. *Ow.*

 

Amen to that.